


Nico's Apocalyptic Adventure

by Lonely Hiruko (Lonely_Hiruko)



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-12
Updated: 2017-11-29
Packaged: 2019-01-16 08:35:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12339192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lonely_Hiruko/pseuds/Lonely%20Hiruko
Summary: Nico just wants to live her life in peace, without all the troubles an apocalypse brings. That is, until she meets some new friends. Now Nico must deal with a tsundere Maki, a crazy Kotori, and a whole host of other interesting characters.





	1. Chapter 1

Nico woke up slowly, blinking the sleep from her eyes. As she sat up she listened for the sound of raindrops, turning her head in confusion when she couldn’t hear any.

 _Strange, it was pouring yesterday_.

Getting out of bed, Nico made her way over to the window and pulled the curtains back. The sight of a wet but not rainy landscape greeted her eyes. It had rained for the past week, so a change of scenery was welcome in her mind.

After getting changed, Nico hurriedly ate breakfast. After finishing, she quickly washed her dishes. Nico crept to her door and opened it, peaking her head outside. Everywhere was still soaked from the past week, with the smell of wet concrete infiltrating her nose. If she wanted to get any shopping done, she would have to do so quickly before any looters came out. With this in mind, she got changed quickly and left, locking the door behind her.

“Let’s see, vegetables, rice, bread, noodles, maybe some chocolate if I can find any…”

Nico stopped, trying to remember if she needed anything else.

 _Ah yes, I needed a new frying pan, my last one broke_ , she thought, proud of herself for remembering.

Mentally noting everything once again, she set off for the local supermarket. Surprisingly, people had missed this place, leaving plenty of food for Nico to take. She some idea why people missed it, but she wasn’t worried and so took full advantage of the lack of competition.

After a few blocks, concern slowly flickered through Nico’s mind. She hadn’t encountered anything yet, which was very abnormal. While she was distracted with these thoughts, she almost missed a loud bang from nearby. Freezing in place, Nico slowly turned around, trying to convince herself it was her mind playing tricks on her. This illusion was shattered once the sound of another gunshot rang through the air.

 _Oh no_ , Nico panicked.

Looking around, she spotted an open door to one of the nearby houses and made a run for it. Slamming the door behind her, she fumbled with the lock, heaving a sigh of relief once it was secured. She quietly crept away from the front door and found her way to the window. She closed the blinds and crouched, peeking through the blinds to watch the street.

After what felt like an eternity to her, she saw two figures carefully making their way through the street. There was a blonde girl in front holding a pistol, casting wary glances around her. The blue girl seemed to be a dragging cricket bat behind her, moving slightly slower than the blonde. Upon further inspection, Nico noticed some blood oozing out from behind the hand pressed against the girl’s ribcage.

 _As long as they don’t see me I should be fine_ , Nico reassured herself.

Nico started to wonder why these two girls would be on this street, considering it was a residential area. The houses occasionally contained canned goods and other useful items, but most were looted dry by now. As far as Nico was concerned, it was far easier to go to a store to get what you needed, especially because people didn’t always leave their stuff in the best condition.

The sound of footsteps behind her brought Nico’s thoughts to a halt. Slowly turning around, Nico was greeted by a severely decayed corpse. The sagging skin and visible ribcage, as well as the unhinged jaw was a frightening sight to take in. Taking deep breathes, Nico tried to calm herself down, aware screaming would draw attention to her. The corpse suddenly cocked its head to the side and started sniffing the air. Letting out a mix between a scream and a howl, it shot towards the door. Realising what was going on, Nico dashed towards the back of the house. Scrambling over a fallen chair, she yanked the backdoor open and ran. After climbing the fence, she ran through an old park, putting as much distance between her and the house as possible.

Nico ran for several minutes before collapsing behind a house. Gasping for air, she took note of her surroundings. Old houses were to one side, with a small forest on the other. Sneaking past the houses, Nico found herself on a small street with two long dead people wandering around aimlessly. Deciding to ignore them, Nico walked along the street, looking for any street signs or indications of where she was. After a minute, she came across what she was looking for.

 _I see_ , Nico thought. _I didn’t go too far then, the supermarket should be about twenty or so minutes away from here I think_.

Satisfied with her current situation, Nico gave herself a pat on the back for avoiding an unwanted encounter with armed looters and set off for the market. To Nico’s joy, the journey was uneventful, unlike earlier.

Upon reaching the store, Nico entered and passed by the cash register, surprisingly manned by another rotting corpse.

 _Either he’s actually working or he’s just standing there because he has nothing better to do with his time_ , Nico thought to herself, giggling at the thought of the armless thing trying to scan her items.

Adjusting the bag on her shoulder, Nico set off to pick up what she needed. She would have to get the pan somewhere else, but that could wait. Nico stopped in front of the dairy section and eyed the ice-cream on display.

 _The freezer probably isn’t working anymore, but it can’t hurt to check, can it_? Nico asked herself. Nico did have a sweet tooth that had been neglected for far too long. She was keenly aware that she would have to carry everything with her for the trip home. That was one reason she never tried stocking up on ice-cream, too much room and weight for her bag.

Deciding it wouldn’t hurt just to check, Nico opened the door and was met with a blast of cold air.

_Could it be?_

Nico took out a small container and opened the lid, eyeing the frozen contents inside. Sniffing it didn’t result in her reeling back in disgust, which was a good sign. Forcing a finger in, she scooped out a small bit and stuck it in her mouth. Her tongue was immediately assaulted by a cold and delicious taste, reminding Nico of just how long it had been since she had some.

“I suppose one container wouldn’t hurt…” Nico said to herself.

 

* * *

 

As Nico left the store she realised just how terrible of a mistake she had made in agreeing to spoil herself with the ice-cream. What had supposed to have been a small treat had turned into a large bucket and several smaller containers worth of ice-cream, forcing her to borrow a basket from the store.

Nico groaned to herself, realising how much of a walk she had ahead of herself, especially if she wanted to make it to the mall for some clothes shopping and to pick up the frying pan. The ice-cream meant she had to go home first to put the frozen treats away, then to the mall to shop and inevitably get distracted, and then back home. All in all, hours of her day she wasn’t going to get back, all because she wanted ice-cream.

Walking back home, Nico couldn’t help but admire how fast nature was to reclaim its territory again. Without people to maintain things, the roads had cracked and yards had overgrown, with several animals scurrying around what used to be ruled by people. In humanity’s place walking corpses wandered around instead, bringing the smell of death with them. The horrible smell was one reason Nico stocked up on perfume and air freshener early on, as she could only put up with the stench for so long before needing to be rid of it.

Once Nico was home she unlocked the door and stepped inside, yelling that she was back, something that was unnecessary but habitual. Quickly putting her groceries away, and safely storing her ice-cream, she closed the door behind her and left for the mall.

Unlike her previous venture outside the house, she did not come across any more scares, only the occasional corpse wandering around. The number of them sharply increased as she got closer to the mall, peaking at what she estimated to be two hundred inside the building. It surprised Nico just how many seemed to hang around malls, although she supposed it might be a habit from their old lives. However, she had yet to meet one that could hold an actual conversation, being with groans whenever she tried to interact with them.

Nico made a quick detour to the kitchen store and walked out with a brand new non-stick pan, much nicer than the one she originally had. With her chores done, she wandered around the mall, looking through shops and opening the occasional box, something that she knew wasn’t allowed before the end of civilisation.

Walking past a fabric store, she saw an ashen haired girl comparing fabrics. One sniff was enough to convince Nico she was as dead, or undead, like everyone else in the mall.

 _Would it kill these people to cover up the smell? Seriously, it’s like they don’t even care_ , Nico thought to herself, huffing in annoyance.

Nico passed by some zombies huddled in a corner staring at something in the shop window. Sneaking a look past them, she saw an overturned mannequin wearing a dress.

 _Cute dress, I should try it on. Immodest mannequin though_ , Nico thought while giggling, knowing full well the mannequin had no choice in the matter.

Nico pushed walked past the zombies into the store and set about moving the mannequin to a more respectable pose, promting what sounded like disappointed groans from the group of zombies.

“No looking up a girl’s skirt, that’s indecent,” Nico scolded the zombies, earning another round of groans. Rolling her eyes, Nico started to explore      the store, taking note of all the outfits they had.

After half an hour of looking at different outfits, she brought a small pile with her to the changing rooms. She wasn’t particularly fond of changing in front of the zombies, especially after the small group seemed to ogle the mannequin instead of thinking about brains and other normal zombie thoughts. Once the door was locked, she tried on each outfitting, giving herself a quick look in the mirror and squealing each time.

Once she was satisfied that all the clothes fit perfectly, she brought them over to the cash register and dumped them on the counter, climbing over it afterwards. She proceeded to scan each item and remove the plastic clothes-hangars and the security features, unwilling to put up with the rush if she tried to leave with them still on and the alarm went off. Once she finished with the last outfit, she climbed back over the counter and stuffed them all into her bag. Satisfied that they wouldn’t fall out, she set off to pick up some shoes to go with them all.

Luckily for Nico, people didn’t loot all the cute clothes and shoes, instead preferring practical stuff like cargo pants, jeans, and jackets, none of which she was interested in. This left her with plenty of choices when it came to shoes and clothes, something she took full advantage of.

After picking up some shoes, she started to leave before passing by a jewelry store.

 _Well, it’s not like the prices matter at this point. What are they going to do, call the police on me_? Nico thought while silently laughing at the absurdity of zombie police trying to arrest her for taking a necklace or five.

Nico quickly went over each accessory, taking what she thought she might wear and leaving things she either wouldn’t wear or she didn’t have an outfit that would go with them yet. Once she was happy with her purchase that would easily have been worth several hundred thousand yen, she started heading towards the mall exit.

As Nico walked through the mall, she thought she heard crying. Perking her ears, she slowly made her way towards the sound, ending up in front of a door. Nico jiggled the doorknob a bit, quickly realising it was locked.

“Hello? Is anyone in there?”

She heard the beginning of a scream before it was muffled. Pressing her ear to the door, Nico could make out murmurs from the other side.

“Nico Nico Nii! Don’t worry, Nico’s here to help!” Nico said, frowning when she heard the sobbing start again.

Nico felt her chest tighten as she listened, being harshly reminded of reality. The people behind the door were just normal people trying to survive, as futile as it was. There was no way they would let someone like her get anywhere near them to help. Deep down she already knew this, but her voice causing more sobbing was a harsh reminder.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Nico reluctantly continued on her way, leaving the people to their fate. There wasn’t anything she could do to help if they wouldn’t let her, upsetting her greatly as she would never hurt innocent people.

“So much for bringing smiles to everyone’s faces,” Nico chuckled to herself, feeling her eyes dampen.

Nico shook her head before forcing a smile on her face, determined to not ruin her mood. She just had to make it home and then she could have all the ice-cream she wanted.

With this in mind, Nico picked up her pace and started to imagine all the different combinations she could try. She had vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry ice-cream available.

 _Maybe some strawberry and vanilla will cheer me up_? Nico thought. _I could also slice up some bananas, make a little sundae_. She patted her cheeks, attempting to bring her mind back to the present. _You have lots of time when you get back home, just focus on getting there first_ , Nico scolded herself.

Her mind back to positive thoughts, Nico set off for home, deciding to take the shortest route back to spare her arms from carrying the weight longer than necessary.

After about twenty minutes of walking Nico found herself walking into one of the parks near her house. Looking around to confirm it was empty, she trotted over to one of the tables and put her bags down on the bench before climbing onto the table. Nico took one last look to confirm the park was empty, and once satisfied, took a big breath of air and started singing.

As time passed, she sang louder and started to dance. With each passing moment, Nico imagined more and more people coming to cheer her on, their smiles growing larger and larger. She felt her hair whip around her face as she twirled around, eyes closed.

After dancing for what felt like hours, Nico opened her eyes and was greeted by several decayed zombies gathered around her table.

“Hello everyone, glad you could come to Nico’s performance! Nico loves you all!” she shouted while striking her Nico-Ni pose. Several grunts let her know the zombies acknowledged her, and with a curtsey she hopped off the table and collected her bags.

“I hope to see you all again at my next performance,” Nico said while giving them a wave before turning around and heading home. Even if they didn’t’ show it, Nico knew they enjoyed her performance.

Several minutes later Nico made it back home. The setting sun made everything glow a warm orange colour, making it look like a scene out of a movie.

Nico grabbed the door handle and let out a yawn before pushing the door open and stepping in. She dropped her bags and started taking her shoes off.

 _Hold on a minute_ , Nico thought suddenly. She turned to the door and stared. _How did I get in without unlocking the door?_

A sudden moan from inside her house caught Nico’s attention. She crept through the house, praying she was mistaken. When Nico turned the corner, she saw a red-haired girl sitting on one of her couches, seemingly unaware of her presence.

“Who are you?”

The girl’s body whipped around to face Nico, purple eyes wide with surprise, her hand gripping a spoon sticking out of her mouth at an odd angle. Nico’s eyes travelled down the girl’s body and landed on the strawberry ice-cream tub on her lap.

The ice-cream meant for Nico.


	2. Chapter 2

Nico and the girl stared at each other for several seconds before she slowly took the spoon out of her mouth. Nico’s eyes followed the spoon as it was lowered, eyes going back up when the girl let out an embarrassed cough.

“Want some?”

Nico’s jaw dropped at the question. Who did this girl think she was to take Nico’s ice-cream and then ask if she wanted any?

“Excuse me, I don’t think we properly introduced ourselves,” Nico said. “I’m Nico Yazawa, and this is my house, and my ice-cream that you’re eating.”

The girl’s eyes widened in surprise at Nico’s statement. She seemed to contemplate this new information, before shrugging her shoulders and digging the spoon back into the ice-cream.

“What part of my ice-cream wasn’t understood?” Nico exclaimed.

“I understood it, I just don’t care,” The girl said while shrugging, before stuffing the spoon back into her mouth.

Nico’s eye twitched at the girl’s attitude. Letting out an annoyed sigh, Nico marched over and wrenched the spoon out of the girls’ mouth, earning a cry from her.

“That’s it, no more ice-cream, no more talking! Get out of my house!”

“Fine, I know when I’m not wanted,” The girl grumbled, dragging herself off the couch.

Another wave of annoyance hit Nico as she stared at the spot the redhead had been sitting.

“Do you normally come to random people’s houses and bleed all over their couches after stealing from them?”

The girl flushed red and started stammering out an excuse.

“Speak up, I don’t have all day here,” Nico huffed.

“I didn’t know I was bleeding…” The girl trailed off.

“How could you not know if you got injured?” Nico asked incredulously.

At this, the girl looked down at Nico’s feet. “This isn’t the first time this has happened…”

“What do you mean this isn’t the first time?”

The girl’s face turned even redder than Nico thought possible. “It happens about once a month I think…”

“Once a…”

Oh

Nico did not want to deal with this

Nico gave out a heavy sigh, dragging her hand over her face. “What’s your name?”

“M-Maki Nishikino”

“Would I be safe in assuming you know why you’re bleeding?”

Maki continued to look at Nico’s feet.

Nico groaned in frustration. “Alright, follow me.”

Nico led Maki to her bathroom, opening the drawer under the sink. In it was everything Maki was going to need.

“There are pads here, feel free to choose your favourite. I’ll need to wash your clothes first though, so you may as well take a bath.”

“T-Thanks,” Maki whispered.

“Don’t thank me, I’m just doing what anyone should do,” Nico sighed.

Maki quickly stripped down to her underwear, hesitating slightly before taking it off as well.

Nico gave a quick nod before collecting Maki’s clothes and walking out of the bathroom.

“They should be cleaned and dried in about two hours or so, just wrap a towel around yourself when you’re done.”

Nico missed what Maki said, but she assumed it to be some form of thanks. Shaking her head, she walked to the laundry basket and dumped the clothes in before picking it up. Bringing the basket to the laundry machine, she proceeded to stuff everything in.

“Alright,” Nico said when it started spinning, “That should run for about an hour before I have to switch it to the dryer.”

 _Now, why do I feel like I’m forgetting something?_ Nico thought to herself. _Probably nothing_.

With Maki in the bath and her clothes getting washed, Nico set about cleaning the blood on the couch. Luckily for Nico, she was experienced at getting bloodstains out of things, so it was relatively easy for her to clean the couch.

Once the couch was mostly blood free, Nico went to check how much ice-cream was left after Maki’s hormone infused massacre of it.

“Oh… she owes me another tub of this stuff…” Nico said to herself, distraught at the sight of the half empty container. “Seriously, how did she eat all that in one go?”

Nico shook her head and sat down on the freshly cleaned couch. She took a quick look at the spoon before shrugging her shoulders and grabbing it. “A few bites won’t hurt anyone…”

\--

“Nico?”

“Huh?” Nico exclaimed, whipping her head to face Maki.

“You have ice-cream all over your face you know, right?” Maki said disbelievingly.

“Like you were any better,” Nico responded, dropping the spoon and crossing her arms over her chest.

“Anyways, what do I do about the pads?”

“I said choose your favourite, don’t tell me you don’t know how to use them?” Nico asked sarcastically.

“Well, my underwear is being washed…” Maki trailed off.

Right, that’s what Nico forgot about.

“Ah well, give me a few minutes. I’ll figure something out.”

“If you say so…”

Nico pushed herself off the couch and walked over to the laundry room, switching everything into the dryer. Once it was running, Nico ran her hand through her hair.

 _What am I going to do, I don’t want her bleeding all over my stuff again_.

A sudden thought occurred to Nico, causing her to rush to the front door. Quickly pulling her shoes on, she left the house and jogged over to the neighbouring one. Kicking the door open, Nico walked in.

“Ah, this will do,” Nico said before grabbing one of the couch cushions. Nico carried it back to her house, closing the door with her foot.

“Grab a chair from the table please, my hands are full!” Nico called.

Upon entering the room, Nico was pleased that Maki listened to her.

“Good girl, now sit on this,” Nico said while placing the cushion on the chair.

Maki raised her eyebrows at this, but nonetheless did as Nico asked.

“Alright, I guess we just wait until your stuff is done and you can wear that. Do you not have anything else to wear though?”

“No, not really.”

“Don’t you have a house or something with some clothes?” Nico asked in disbelief.

“Well, yes, but I haven’t been there in a while.”

“Why not?”

“I have my reasons, and as long as reason number one is still around, I refuse to go back,” Maki replied.

“If you say so,” Nico said unconvinced.

Both of them sat next to each other in an uncomfortable silence. After a few minutes of this, Nico decided to say something.

“So, do you usually steal other people’s ice-cream?”

“Sorry,” Maki said as she turned her head to look at Nico’s feet. “I didn’t know it was yours, and I just wanted something sweet. The door was unlocked when I tried it, so I went in assuming nobody lived here. When I found ice-cream, I just kind of…ate it.”

“Well, you’re sure lucky that Nico is so forgiving. If you agree to get three more of those, I can forgive you.”

“Never mind, I take it back. I’m not sorry,” Maki deadpanned.

“This is my house, I can still kick you out of it,” Nico responded.

Both of them stared at each other for a bit before bursting out giggling.

“Alright, how about we start over?” Nico suggested.

“Sure, I’m Maki Nishikino.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Nico Yazawa,” Nico said politely.

“This is stupid, we somewhat know who each other are already, do we really have to go from the very beginning.”

“Party pooper,” Nico huffed.

Maki stuck her tongue out at Nico, resulting in them both collapsing in a fit of giggles again.

“Wow, this is the first time I’ve laughed this hard in a long time,” Nico said.

“Same here.”

“Although, we’re really going to need to get you some clothes if you’re not going back to your house.”

“Kind of pointless if I have nowhere to put them though,” Maki said.

“You can stay here. Honestly, this house is too big for one person anyways. Besides, it would be nice to have someone to talk to.”

“You’d really do that?” Maki asked.

“Sure, why not.”

“Thanks,” Maki said with a large smile.

“Although,” Nico began, “You’ll need to follow some house rules, including putting on lots of perfume. I can’t stand the smell of dead things.”

“Is that why everything smells like strawberries?” Maki asked. “Also, technically, we’re undead.”

“Whatever, same thing,” Nico said while waving off Maki’s remark.

“Not really.”

“I’m smarter than all the other zombies by virtue of being able to talk and think. Although, I guess so are you.”

“Is that your way of changing the subject?” Maki asked

“Anyways,” Nico interrupted, “once your clothes are done you need to get changed so we can set up your room.”

“Sure.”

Satisfied, Nico got up and grabbed some books for them to read. They sat in a comfortable silence for a while, commenting on random things every now and then until Nico heard the dryer beeping.

“Ah, your stuff is done. I’ll be right back,” Nico said. Not giving Maki a chance to reply, she shot out of her chair and ran over to the dryer. After grabbing Maki’s stuff, she ran back and threw it at Maki before running back to take her laundry to put away.

Once Nico folded and put everything away, she went to find Maki.

“Ah, there you are. There’s a spare room this way.”

Maki nodded her head in acknowledgement and followed Nico as she was led to her room.

“Here’s the room. I’ve kept the whole house clean so there’s no dust anywhere. I put all the pillows and blankets away though, so we’ll have to dig them out of the closet.”

Nico walked to the closet and opened it up, revealing the items in question. They both went to work making the bed and putting the pillows back in the pillowcases. Once they finished, Nico inspected their work.

“I think everything looks nice. Are you okay sleeping here?”

“Yeah, it’s fine. Thanks again for letting me stay,” Maki said.

“No problem. Feel free to move things around while I make dinner. Is there anything specific you want?” Nico asked.

“Anything with tomatoes is fine.”

“Figures with that ridiculous hair colour of yours,” Nico snickered.

“At least I know how to be polite.”

“At least I know not to steal ice-cream from others,” Nico said while sticking her tongue out.

“Are you really going to hold that against me still? I already apologised.”

“Holding it against you is too much fun. Anyways, I’m off to make dinner, see you in a bit.”

Nico skipped out of the room and went to the kitchen. Tomato soup was the obvious choice as it required little work and contained what was apparently Maki’s favourite food. Maybe the tomatoes were responsible for Maki’s hair colour?

It didn’t take long to make the dinner and call Maki down. To Nico’s relief, Maki liked the food, which meant she had one thing she could make that required little work. After putting everything away, Nico bid Maki goodnight and went to bed early, exhausted from her eventful day.  Closing her eyes, Nico slowly drifted to sleep.

Nico’s eyes suddenly fluttered open. Something seemed off. Nico sat up and looked around. Everything seemed normal, except for a bad smell. It almost smelled like something burning Nico thought.

Getting out of bed, Nico made her way to the door and opened it. Something was definitely burning. With this in mind, Nico ran down the stairs and into the kitchen where the smell was strongest. The sight of Maki running around opening windows with smoke coming out of a frying pan greeted her.

“What happened?”

Maki’s head whipped around to face Nico, and in the process, she tripped and fell flat on her face, which got a snicker from Nico.

“I was trying to make eggs for breakfast as thanks, but then they started burning!” Maki exclaimed while pushing herself off the ground.

Nico raised her eyebrows as she looked towards the stove, the temperature clearly too high for making eggs.

“First of all, what temperature do you think is required to scramble some eggs. Second of all, the first thing you should have done is take the pan off the stove element when it started burning.”

Maki’s face turned bright red at this before she ran and pulled the pan off the element.

“On second thought, let me help out before you start causing permanent damage to my kitchen.”

“I can cook, I just messed it up a little bit,” Maki whispered embarrassedly.

Nico decided not to say anything and ruin Maki’s dignity any further. Instead, Nico set about airing the room out and cleaning everything, including scraping the horribly burnt eggs into the sink.

 _Note to self, never let her cook unsupervised_ , Nico thought.

Once the kitchen was cleaned, Nico sent Maki to sit at the table while she made something edible. Taking pity on Maki, Nico cut some tomatoes and served them with scrambled eggs, apparently something that even Maki could mess up.

“So,” Nico began while finishing chewing. “I was thinking we can go to the mall and get some shopping done today. Is that fine with you?”

Maki nodded her head in response, still too embarrassed by her kitchen mishap.

“Hey, it happens to the best of us,” Nico reassured Maki. “Maybe we can start with something easy, like cereal.”

“There’s no cooking involved in cereal,” Maki rebutted while glaring at Nico.

“True, but I also want to keep my kitchen in one piece.”

“Why did I ever get it into my head that you would attempt to cheer me up?”

“Because I bring smiles to everyone’s faces?”

“And you do that by making fun of me?”

“Well, it sure brought a smile to my face,” Nico replied cheekily, earning another glare from Maki.

“Alright I get it. Why don’t you put the stuff in the dishwasher then? I’m sure you can accomplish that.”

Maki grumbled something unintelligible under her breath, causing Nico to let out another snicker. After they finished eating, Maki put everything in the dishwasher, delighting Nico to know she wasn’t completely incompetent.

After a few minutes of getting ready, they both set off for the mall. This time, Nico made sure to lock the door and double check it was locked. After ten minutes of walking Maki started talking.

“Did you lock the door this time?”

“Yes?” Nico said confused. “You saw me lock it, I even asked you to confirm I locked it.”

“Did you now? I don’t remember,” Maki said while grinning.

Nico felt annoyance bubbling in her. Was Maki trying to make her second guess herself? If so it wasn’t working.

At least, that’s what Nico told herself as she had them turn around so she could check the door, causing Maki to burst out laughing when Nico confirmed the door was in fact locked.

“You know, I really hate you right now,” Nico huffed.

“I know, and it was completely worth it. That’s what happens when you make fun of me.”

“Remind me to drop an ice-cube down your shirt when we get home,” Nico grumbled.

They continued walking to the mall in peace, occasionally bickering about random things. Nico was pretty sure Maki was trying to annoy her, all the more infuriating because she was successful. Although, Nico recognised the hypocrisy in complaining as she was doing the same to Maki. Even so, Nico felt happy to have someone to talk to.

Upon entering the mall, Nico grabbed Maki’s hand and started pulling her. There were several stores she wanted to bring Maki to, all of which contained multiple things Nico wanted Maki to try. What was the point in getting clothes if they didn’t look good?

“Here, this store will work. I know it has some cute clothes that I think would look good on you.”

“Why do I get the feeling you’re just going to make me play dress up?” Maki questioned.

“Don’t worry about it,” Nico laughed. “It will be fun, trust me. I mean, look at that dress! Isn’t it so cute?”

“I’m not trying that on.”

“What?” Nico said appalled. “Why not?”

“That’s way to pink. It also has far too many frills.”

“Party pooper.”

Maki stuck her tongue out at Nico, causing her to shake her head in mock disappointment. While doing this Nico noticed someone at the store entrance. A closer look revealed it to be that same ashen haired girl from before.

“Hello?” Nico asked confused.

The girl looked at Nico confused, then caught sight of Maki and started smiling.

“Maki! I haven’t seen you in a while, I see you’ve made a new friend?”

“I suppose,” Maki said while twirling her hair. “Her name’s Nico. She’s letting me stay at her house.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful,” the girl said while clasping her hands together. “Nice to meet you Nico, thanks for helping Maki out. My name’s Kotori.”

“Nice to meet you. We’re currently clothes shopping for Maki, but she’s being a bit stubborn.”

Kotori’s eyes started sparkling at this.

“Mind if I help?” Kotori asked hopefully.

A quick look behind her revealed Maki’s face going pale at this. Nico felt a smirk form on her face.

“Sure, but we have to get her into the frilliest of dresses.

“Sure, I can’t wait to see her try them on. I can even make some clothes for both of you, you’ll both look so cute!” Kotori said delighted.

While Kotori and Nico started talking about clothes, Maki’s face went white as she realised what she had gotten herself into.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally learning how to use ao3 better, so please excuse the mess. We're now halfway done, I hope everyone's been enjoying it so far. I know I've said this before, but I'd really like to thank my editor Super Idol Nico Yazawa, I couldn't have done this without his editing to catch all my silly mistakes.

The cloudy sky matched Umi’s mood perfectly. Due to unfortunate circumstances regarding their supplies, Eli and her had been forced to go scavenging in the more dangerous parts of the city. Still recovering from a previous injury, Umi’s movements were slow and painful. This made looting the mall they were in much more dangerous.

“Hey Eli, hold up a bit. I think this store might have some useful things.”

Umi walked into the store carefully with Eli following behind her. They immediately set about going through the backpacks and camping supplies in the store while keeping an eye out for any zombies. Eli had a pistol if things went horribly wrong, but they were both aware using it would attract the attention of every zombie in the building. Thus, they were both keen to avoid as many zombies as possible and to make any kills as quickly and silently as possible.

“How’s this backpack look Umi?” Eli whispered next to Umi.

“That one will do I think. Can you check for tents please? I’m going to see if they have any canned food here.” Umi said whispered.

“Sure thing.”

Umi nodded her head in acknowledgement and started searching for food. There wasn’t as much as Umi had hoped, but it would last them several days at minimum with rationing. Satisfied that the food fit in her backpack, Umi stood up to find Eli when she heard a shriek from somewhere in the mall.

“Umi, what was that?” Eli hissed.

“I don’t know, get back to the entrance.”

Umi ran to the entrance of the store and waited for Eli, who showed up after a few seconds. Nodding once to Eli, Umi stepped out of the store and looked around.

“I don’t see anyone, do you think it was another person?” Eli asked.

“I don’t know. If it was though, there’s nothing we can do to help. We’re best off getting out while the zombies are distracted with that.”

“I see,” Eli grimaced. “I wish we could help them though, who knows what…” Eli trailed off as her face paled.

Umi looked behind her and saw a red-haired zombie in underwear sprinting towards them, who then started screaming unintelligibly upon noticing them. Two zombies were behind it, sprinting just as fast.

“Run!” Umi yelled while grabbing Eli’s hand and sprinting in the opposite direction.

There was no way Umi was going to die here.

 

* * *

 

“Come back, save me!” Maki shrieked while running after the blue haired girl and her friend, Nico and Kotori right behind her. Nico had been working with Kotori to have Maki try on all kinds of things when she decided to pick out the frilliest and cutest dress the shop had. To the surprise of no one, Maki had refused to wear it, resulting in Nico and Kotori forcefully encouraging her by stripping her. That lead them to their present situation of chasing Maki as she ran through the mall.

“Get back here Maki, we’re not done with you!” Nico yelled.

It seemed fate was on Nico’s side, as Maki suddenly tripped and was sent sprawling. Not wasting her chance, Nico flung herself onto Maki, pinning her to the ground.

“Kotori, get the dress on her while I’m holding her!” Nico called while holding the struggling girl.

Not getting a response, Nico turned her head back. “Kotori?”

Kotori was staring past them, a look of longing in her eyes.

“Did you see her Nico?” Kotori asked dreamily.

Quirking her eyebrow, Nico turned to face the direction the two girls ran off.

“Which one? The blue haired girl or the blonde one?”

“The blue haired girl. Isn’t she so dreamy?”

“I guess?” Nico said, unsure where Kotori was going. “You do realise those people aren’t zombies though, right? We’re lucky they didn’t seem armed and ran away at the sight of us.”

“I want to kill her and make her my wife,” Kotori said, still staring where the two girls had run off.

Nico looked down to Maki and was greeted by a glare.

“Is Kotori normally like this?”

“Get off me and I’ll tell you,” Maki huffed.

“No thank you,” Nico sung out. “Kotori, snap out of it, we still need to get Maki in that dress.”

“Oh, right!” Kotori said, suddenly aware of her surroundings. Nico dragged Maki to her feet and held her while Kotori forced Maki into the dress.

“Oh, you look so good in that,” Kotori said while clasping her hands together.

“I’m going to kill both of you,” Maki snapped.

“Relax, you look good,” Nico giggled. “If only I had a camera with me.”

Maki glared at Nico.

“Anyways, were you going to answer my question about Kotori?” Nico asked.

“Oh, she gets like that sometimes. I’m pretty sure she’s been stalking that girl for several months now.”

Nico stared at Maki in shock.

“Nothing’s ever come out of it,” Maki added.

“If you say so.”

“So, can I take this thing off now?”

“No,” Nico and Kotori both replied.

“Hey Nico, do you mind if I head off for a bit? I have to grab some sewing supplies,” Kotori said.

“Sure, no problem. You know where my house is?”

“No, sorry,” Kotori replied.

Nico quickly told her the address, looking around suspiciously to make sure nobody was eavesdropping in case anyone wanted to break into her house again.

“I know where that street is, I’ll be there by the time dinner is ready. Hopefully I can get some outfits started for both of you.”

“Alright, see you then,” Nico waved to Kotori.

“Now Maki, do you want to try on the other dresses first or go shopping for some skirts?” Nico asked.

“Neither.”

“It’s that or I force you to try whatever underwear I pick out,” Nico sang.

“Skirts and blouses are fine,” Maki quickly responded.

“Perfect, follow me then.”

Nico led Maki through the mall to one of her favourite clothes shops. Once there, Nico continued to pile different clothes for Maki to try, forcing her into them if she refused. Once out of clothes she thought Maki would look good in, Nico started pillaging the nearby clothes stores to things to add to the pile.

“This is getting ridiculous. I’ve been doing nothing but trying on clothes for two hours now. Can’t we take a break at least?” Maki asked.

“I guess if you really want one.”

“Yes, I really want a break.”

“Fine,” Nico whined. “There’s probably food somewhere in this mall.”

It didn’t take long for Nico to find some food in an abandoned café. The heavy zombie presence in the mall meant people couldn’t loot the mall very well, leaving plenty for Nico.

“Are you really going to eat cookies for a snack?” Maki asked.

“I have a banana muffin, so that counts as something healthy,” Nico replied smugly.

“Just because there’s bananas in it doesn’t make a muffin healthy.”

“Whatever, it’s just one muffin.”

“And three cookies.”

“You can have some,” Nico replied sweetly.

Maki stared at Nico annoyed before grabbing a cookie out of Nico’s hand and stuffing her face.

“So, even the great tomato can’t say no to a cookie.”

“Shut it,” Maki huffed.

“Anyways, back to clothes shopping…” Nico trailed off, squinting past Maki.

“Is that Kotori again?”

Maki looked where Nico pointed. “Kotori, I thought you were getting sewing supplies?” Maki called out.

“Oh, hi again! I almost got everything. I just ran into her again so I had to chase her and her friend for a bit,” Kotori called back.

“What happened to them?” Nico yelled.

“They barricaded themselves in a room. Don’t worry, I moved some stuff to keep them trapped there overnight. I’ll pick her up tomorrow,” Kotori said gleefully.

“What do you mean, pick her up tomorrow?” Nico asked.

“Oh, I’ll come back tomorrow and bring her to your house. I’ll need to kill her and make her a zombie though.”

“How do you know she won’t end up being one of the dumb ones?” Maki asked incredulously.

“Oh, I’m not worried. The world’s not cruel enough to keep her from me like that,” Kotori replied cheerily.

“She’s crazy,” Nico and Maki whispered to each other.

“Have you two finished shopping for clothes?”

“Almost, just taking a small break because Maki’s cranky,” Nico said, earning a glare from Maki. “We can probably just grab the clothes I think she looks good in and go home if you want.”

“Sure, that works,” Kotori said. “I saw another shop with some cute clothes though, you should both try some stuff in there.”

“Sure! I’ll bring Maki there if you can grab the clothes that will work for Maki.”

After exchanging information with Kotori, Nico dragged Maki off to the new shop. This time, Nico also tried different clothes on. After several minutes they were joined by Kotori, who helped pick stuff out for both of them. After an hour in the shop the three of them left the mall.

“I’m exhausted. Why did I have to try on all that stuff?” Maki complained.

“Because you’re too cute not to try on cute clothes,” Nico responded.

“She’s right Maki, you looked really good in them. It’s a shame you never went clothes shopping with me earlier,” Kotori said.

Maki grumbled to herself while shifting some bags on her shoulder.

“Did we need to get this many though?”

“Yes,” Nico and Kotori said simultaneously.

Maki shook her head at them and continued walking silently, leaving Nico and Kotori to chat about clothes and sewing.

“Alright, we’re back. Take your shoes off please,” Nico said while unlocking the door.

“Nice house,” Kotori commented.

“I’ll start making dinner, any requests?”

“I’m fine with whatever you make. Maki will probably want some tomatoes though,” Kotori said.

“I already learned about the tomato’s tomato addiction.”

“I’m not a tomato,” Maki complained weakly.

“It’s fine,” Kotori said while rubbing Maki’s head. “She’s going to make something delicious that you’ll like, just imagine all the extra tomatoes she’ll put on your plate.”

Maki started drooling at the thought, earning a snicker from Nico.

“Right, extra tomatoes, noted.”

Nico went to the kitchen and started making dinner. It was late and she didn’t feel like cooking anything big, so she just took out a bunch of tomatoes and cucumbers and cut them up. Once she was done with them, Nico started slicing some bread.

“Dinner’s ready!” Nico called once everything was set.

Maki and Kotori came to the table soon after they were called, and thanked Nico for the meal before eating. Nico quickly regretted not getting more tomatoes in her last shopping trip upon witnessing Maki massacre the tomatoes she prepared for everyone.

“Hey, leave some for me and Kotori,” Nico scolded.

“It’s fine, she can have my share,” Kotori said, earning a thanks from Maki.

Nico mumbled about Kotori spoiling Maki under her breath and continued to eat, grabbing some tomato slices put on her plate before Maki took them. Once dinner was done, Kotori offered to clean up, to the appreciation of Nico.

“Hey Maki, want to play a card game?” Nico asked sweetly.

“Sure I guess?”

“We should make it interesting though. Loser owes the winner one favour?”

Maki narrowed her eyes and Nico. “Why do I get the feeling you’re going to cheat?”

“Well, if you’re too scared I suppose we can just play for fun. I never took you for the type of person who would back down from a challenge though,” Nico sang.

“Fine, and the favour I’m going to request is for you to never make me play dress up again.”

“Deal, old maid?”

Maki nodded her head, causing Nico to run and grab a deck of cards. Once they were shuffled, Nico dealt the cards between them, smirking when Maki frowned.

_She has the old maid, this is going to be too easy_ , Nico thought to herself, victory assured.

They took turns, taking one card from each other, and putting down any pairs they had. Unknown to Maki, Nico didn’t choose the game randomly. The old maid was marked slightly on the back, letting Nico know which card not to pick.

After a while, Nico grabbed the last non-losing card out of Maki’s hand, and placed down the last pair.

“I guess you owe me now,” Nico said smugly.

“You cheated, there’s no way you didn’t pick that card throughout the entire game!” Maki said accusingly.

“Nico never cheats,” Nico said while forming a heart with her hands. “For my favour, you have to kiss me on the cheek!”

“Bweh?”

Nico giggled at Maki’s embarrassment. “Too late to back out now, might as well get it over with.”

Maki mumbled under her breath as she went around the table to peck Nico on the cheek. At the last second, Nico turned her head so their lips touched, sending Maki reeling backwards.

“W-What was that for?”

“Felt like it,” Nico sang happily.

“I-I’m going to bed!” Maki said while storming off.

Nico followed Maki to the bathroom, deciding to get ready for bed a well. It didn’t take long before they were done and bid each other good night. Once Nico reached her bed, she felt sleep start to overcome her quickly.

Nico dreamed she was floating in a void. It felt serene, with nothing to worry about. There was a soft voice calling her name. Nico squinted her eyes in the direction the voice was coming from. It seemed to be getting louder, and it sounded strangely like Kotori.

“Nico wake up!”

Nico shot out of bed with wide eyes, being met with Kotori’s face.

“What time is it?” Nico asked sleepily.

“Seven, get up, breakfast is ready,” Kotori said frantically.

“What’s the hurry?”

“We have to get to the mall before my wife wakes up! I have a plan, but we have to get there now!”

“Okay okay, I’m going,” Nico said. “Let me get ready though.”

Kotori nodded and ran off, leaving Nico get dressed and head down for breakfast. To Nico’s relief, it seemed Kotori was infinitely better at cooking than Maki. After finishing, Kotori rushed Nico and Maki out the door.

“What are you planning exactly Kotori?” Maki asked.

“I’m planning on making her love me too. I had a dream where it worked out, so I’m going to try to recreate it.”

Nico and Maki exchanged worried glances.

The walk to the mall was an interesting one for Nico. Both her and Maki were sleepy and in no mood to mess with live people, while Kotori skipped along without a care in the world, occasionally making them speed up. Once at the mall, Kotori shooed them to where the two girls were holed up, tasking them with unblocking the room.

“Why do I get the feeling this is all a giant set-up to see that girl in a compromising position?” Nico voiced.

“Knowing her, it probably is,” Maki agreed.

“Well, that’s the last box, now what?”

“I guess we wait here like Kotori said. I think she wants us to chase them that way,” Maki said.

They stood around awkwardly, both unsure why they bothered listening to Kotori. After a few minutes, Nico perked her head towards the door.

“That sounds like them, shall we try being friendly when they leave the room?” Nico asked.

“They probably hear random gibberish from us like we do from them. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try though.”

Nico nodded her head in acknowledgement. After several minutes, an unlocking sound could be heard, followed by the two girls carefully stepping out of the room.

“Hi, I’m Nico Yazawa, and this is my friend Maki Nishikino, nice to meet you,” Nico sang.

The girls screamed and ran in the opposite direction.

“I suppose we should follow them and see what Kotori is planning,” Maki commented while walking after the girls.

Nico followed Maki, interested to find out what Kotori was planning. After a minute, they found the girls backing away from a group of zombies, weapons drawn.

“I guess this is where they die?” Nico commented, earning a nod from Maki.

“I love you!” a voice called out.

“Was that Kotori?” Nico asked.

Kotori suddenly burst forth from the group of zombies and knocked them to the side, using a shopping cart as battering ram. Nico stared in shock as Kotori smashed into the blue haired girl, sending them both crashing through the window and out the mall.

“D-Did I just watch Kotori kill that girl?” Nico asked in shock, both her and Maki’s eyes wide.

The blonde girl yelled something before charging past the disoriented zombies, leaving Nico and Maki alone to question Kotori’s sanity.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Halloween everyone! In celebration of this spooky day, I'm updating this story a day early (zombies are spooky, and today is spooky, so...)  
> I will admit, I've never heard of the movie "warm bodies" that some of you have mentioned in the comments. Here I was, thinking I was being original. Regardless, I hope everyone's enjoying it so far!

Nico and Maki sat on a couch facing an all too familiar blue haired girl on the couch across from them. They had been staring her down, disbelief evident on their faces. Nico had been living in peace not even a week ago, and now she had three others staying at her house, one of which was clearly out of her mind.

“Let me just get this straight,” Nico said. “Your name is Umi.”

“That is correct,” the girl in question responded.

“You were surviving this whole mess with another girl named Eli.”

“Yes.”

“You were hiding in the mall when you panicked and tried to escape from me and Maki.”

“Yes.”

“While trying to get away from us, you ran into another group of zombies.”

“Yes,” Umi said, growing tired of the conversation.”

“While backing away, Kotori over there,” Nico said accusingly. “She rammed through the group with a shopping cart and smashed into you, carrying you both out the window and ending your life before making you a zombie.”

“I know that.”

“So then why,” Nico said, placing emphasis on the ‘why’. “Why are you perfectly content with her befriending you and making you her girlfriend, without holding any kind of grudge against her?”

“As I’ve said, being alive wasn’t exactly all rainbows and sunshine. As a zombie, I have easy access to food as I don’t have to worry about other zombies trying to kill me. Moreover, I don’t have to worry about trying to survive an apocalypse as I’m already dead.”

“Undead,” Maki corrected.

“Undead, yes. As I was saying, being undead isn’t all that bad,” Umi concluded.

“She murdered you in cold blood with the express purpose of forcing you to be her girlfriend. You don’t think she’s even a little crazy?” Nico asked in disbelief.

“She was just lonely and wanted someone to love her,” Umi defended.

“She rammed you with a shopping cart and fell three floors with you while screaming she loves you all the way down,” Maki said dryly.

“I know that!”

“Yet you act like she did nothing wrong,” Nico said.

“Well,” Umi began before Kotori came over and started giving her a shoulder rub.

“It’s nice to be pampered for once. It’s been so long since I could relax,” Umi said embarrassed.

Nico and Maki exchanged glances.

“You forgive her for murdering you like that as well as scaring you while you were alive, just because she’s pampering you?” Nico questioned.

“If you put it that way, then yes,” Umi said.

Nico and Maki exchanged glances again. “Stockholm syndrome,” they said together.

“Hey, it’s not that bad!” Umi said.

“If I were to go and scare Maki every week for a few months, before finally ripping her head off and reattaching it after a few days, you’d say that was completely uncalled for. Furthermore, if Maki then proceeded to fall in love with me because of that, you’d say she was crazy,” Nico said.

“Well,” Umi began while rubbing her arm. “She’s also very sweet and cute…”

Kotori hummed happily in response.

“Oh my gosh, she’s sweet and cute?” Nico said sarcastically. “Maki, how could we have not noticed before? The psychotic stalker who kills people she loves is sweet!”

“Don’t insult her, it’s true!” Umi said angrily.

Maki shook her head in disbelief. “Kotori, do you have anything to add?”

“Umi’s the sweetest and kindest zombie you’ll ever meet. She’s still getting used to being a zombie, so I think you two should give her a break.”

“That’s it! You two love birds do whatever, I don’t care! Meeting adjourned,” Nico declared while jumping off the couch.

“By the way, isn’t this house a bit small?” Umi questioned.

“Small? This house was perfectly fine while it was just me living here!”

“I see,” Maki whispered.

“Ah, it’s not like that!” Nico said quickly. “The house is just a bit crowded with four people, that’s all. You’re perfectly fine Maki, I’m just complaining about the two psycho’s over here.”

“That’s not nice,” Kotori said.

“Ignoring that comment, most of the houses aren’t exactly in good condition. It’s not like there’s many places to stay,” Umi said.

Nico let out a sigh and collapsed back on the couch.

“Oh, I know!” Kotori said suddenly. “Why don’t we all move to Maki’s house?”

“No.”

“You know, you haven’t actually told me what’s wrong with your house,” Nico said. 

“Come on Maki, I’m sure with the four of us that girl won’t cause any problems,” Kotori reassured.

“No, I’m not going back. Not as long as she’s still around.”

“As long as who’s around?” Nico asked, not liking being left out.

“Nozomi,” Kotori said. “She’s another zombie who started hanging around Maki’s house when she learned someone lived there. She’s not that bad, she just gropes others sometimes.”

“Sometimes?” Maki asked disbelievingly. “She groped me every day for a month because she wanted me to let her live in my house! I’m not putting up with that!”

“And you won’t have to. I’m sure she’ll listen if me and Umi ask her nicely to stop,” Kotori said.

“Maki, just give Kotori the house key and let her and Umi live at your house. Us non-crazies can stay here,” Nico said.

“It’s my house! If anyone gets to live there, it’s because I’m living there and let them!”

“Oh my gosh Maki,” Nico said annoyed. “Then let’s all go to your house and live there instead. We can’t all stay at my house, it’s not big enough. Just make them pay rent in the form of keeping that girl off your property.”

Maki looked like she wanted to keep arguing, but was stopped by a glare from Nico. How much trouble could one zombie be? Nico couldn’t see why Maki was against it, especially since they had Kotori around. All they had to do was convince Kotori that Umi was in danger of being groped and the zombie would be in pieces within minutes.

“Fine,” Maki conceded. “But Nozomi better be kept away from me.”

“Perfect,” Kotori said while clasping her hands together. “I’ll start packing everything.”

“My house should have all the necessities, so you should only need to bring over personal items,” Maki said.

Nico got up and went to her room to start packing. Once in her room, she stuffed all her clothes into some bags, determined not to leave anything behind. Once her clothes were packed, Nico went to the bathroom and packed her toiletries into another bag.

With everything packed, Nico brought her stuff to the door. Everyone was waiting for her, with Maki suspiciously carrying little.

“Maki, did you pack the clothes me and Kotori got you?”

“Some of them,” Maki said while twirling her hair.

“Go back and take all of them. We spent hours finding you stuff, the least you could do is take them.”

“I have clothes at my house though,” Maki protested.

“Don’t care, knowing you none of them will be cute. Besides, me and Kotori made sure to pick clothes out that looked good on you.”

“Fine,” Maki complained before going back.

“I guess that explains why she wasn’t carrying much,” Kotori commented.

“It does,” Nico agreed. “Are you going to bring Umi clothes shopping later?”

“Maybe tomorrow. We’ll need to get settled into Maki’s house first.”

“How big is it?” Umi asked.

“Pretty big. I’m sure you two will be surprised when you see it.”

“Is it a mansion or something?” Nico asked, getting a hum in response.

The three of them waited in silence for a few minutes before Maki came back with another two bags.

“I got everything, happy?”

“Even the underwear?” Nico asked smugly.

“Yes, even the underwear. I can’t believe you made me get those after Kotori’s stunt with Umi.”

“We needed to do something to recover from Kotori murdering a person. Besides, they looked too cute note to get,” Nico said.

“Whatever, can we just go now?”

“Sure sure, everyone out of the house,” Nico said.

Once everyone was out, Nico locked the door behind them. Taking a few steps back, Nico took one last look at her house.

_You’ve served me well. Hopefully Maki’s house will be a good replacement for you_.

“You coming?” Umi asked from the street.

“Yeah, give me a few seconds,” Nico called, still looking at her house. Taking a bit longer to burn the image into her mind, Nico grabbed her bags and joined her new friends.

The walk was relatively peaceful, with Umi and Kotori talking with each other and Nico occasionally teasing Maki. This continued for an hour before Nico grew bored.

“Hey Maki, where exactly is your house anyways? It’s been an hour.”

“Probably another hour away? It wouldn’t take so long if we weren’t moving so slowly from carrying all this stuff.”

“I’m bored.”

“Deal with it.”

“I can’t believe I’m leaving my house for this. Your house had better be as good as everyone’s making it out to be.”

“Why don’t we take a small break here then?” Kotori suggested.

“Fine with me,” Nico said as she dropped her bags.

“You know you didn’t have to bring that much, right?”

“You didn’t have to try bringing so little,” Nico countered.

“Let’s not fight,” Umi said.

“I packed sandwiches,” Kotori said cheerfully.

“Really? I want one!” Nico said, squealing when Kotori gave her a sandwich.

“It tastes really good, thanks Kotori,” Umi said after taking a bite.

“Anything for you Umi,” Kotori said sweetly.

“At least wait for me and Nico not to be around before acting all lovey like that,” Maki complained

“Yeah, not all of us have girlfriends!” Nico joined in.

“You also like girls?” Umi asked.

“T-That’s not what I said!” Nico yelled embarrassedly.

“Oh, sorry. The way you said it made me think you also liked girls,” Umi said apologetically.

“Well, I mean…” Nico trailed off embarrassedly. “It’s not like I dislike them.”

“Do you like boys?” Maki asked.

“No of course not!” Nico said.

“Got you,” Maki said smugly.

“What do you…” Nico said before trailing off. She was baited hard with that.

“Okay fine, I like girls, happy?”

“Yes Nico, we are very happy,” Maki said smugly.

“What about you, do you like girls?”

“Eh?” Maki let out.

“Fair is fair Maki. If you’re going to ask her those kinds of things, you should be prepared to answer them yourself,” Kotori said.

Maki let out a few more embarrassed sounds before stuffing her sandwich into her mouth.

“Don’t worry Maki, we can wait,” Nico said annoyed.

Nico stared at Maki while she chewed, letting out a small laugh as Maki swallowed and pretended she still had food in her mouth. With a quick motion Nico grabbed Maki’s sandwich from her.

“Hey, give that back!”

“So your mouth is clear now,” Nico said delightedly.

“Uhh…”

“Do you like girls, yes or no?”

Maki looked between Nico, Kotori, and Umi before sighing in defeat. “Yes,” she said quietly.

“You both like girls, that’s so nice,” Kotori said delighted. “Do you two like each other?”

“What? No, of course not!” Nico and Maki said in unison.

 Umi raised her eyebrows at the denial.

“Me, like her? That’s preposterous!” Nico yelled.

“Yeah, why would I – what’s wrong with me?” Maki said.

“Err…” Nico let out. Why did everyone need to make things so complicated?

“What’s wrong with liking Maki?” Kotori asked. “And for that matter, what’s wrong with you liking Nico?”

“Uh, I never said there’s anything wrong with liking her,” Maki defended herself quickly.

Nico felt hope flare up in her chest.

_Wait, why would I hope she likes me? That’s just stupid_! Nico thought, trying to convince herself she didn’t like Maki.

“Maybe you two should become girlfriends then. That way everyone here has one,” Kotori suggested.

“Ehh?” Nico and Maki squealed out in unison.

“Why don’t we start going again?” Umi suggested, trying to diffuse the situation.

Nico and Maki both agreed quickly, Kotori reluctantly agreeing after pressure from Umi. Grabbing their bags, everyone set off again.

After a while of walking, they came up to a gated mansion. To Nico’s surprise, it seemed to be in relatively good shape, with no significant decay.

“That’s a nice looking mansion, I wish we could stay there,” Nico laughed.

“Welcome to my house,” Maki said quietly.

“Wait, what?” Nico asked in shock. “Are you serious?”

“This is her house. I hope you and Umi like it,” Kotori said.

“No way,” Nico said while continuing to stare at the house.

“I know you said that Nozomi girl caused you problems, but why would you leave the mansion just because of her?” Umi asked in awe.

“I don’t like being groped,” Maki defended.

“Still, just tell her to get lost,” Nico said.

“It’s not that easy!”

“Did you even ask her to stop?”

“I think so?” Maki said, uncertainty in her voice.

“You didn’t try asking her, did you?” Kotori said while shaking her head. “Sometimes you can be so forgetful Maki. That’s the first thing you should have done.”

“Whatever, here we are,” Maki said while opening the gate.

“Nico ran to the front door and waited for Maki, sprinting past Maki when she unlocked it.

“It’s so big,” Nico said in awe. “How could you have kept this from me?”

“It’s not that big.”

“Don’t be so modest Maki, most people have never been inside such a house,” Kotori said while entering.

“I’m making dinner! I want to use your fancy kitchen,” Nico said.

“I can’t wait,” Kotori said. “Umi, I’ll take your bags to our room.”

“There’s enough rooms for everyone to have their own,” Maki said.

“Not necessary,” Kotori giggled while carrying the bags up the stairs. “I’ll pick out a good room for us, alright Umi? Just relax in the living room.”

“Thanks,” Umi said before going to explore the house.

“She’s sure getting spoiled,” Nico said after bounding back, Maki nodding in agreement.

“Feel free to choose a room for yourself, I’m bringing my clothes to mine,” Maki said.

“Sure thing,” Nico said happily, following Maki up the stairs.

After Maki went into her room, Nico found herself standing at the door to the bedroom besides Maki’s. All the bedrooms were most likely the same, so what was the harm in grabbing the one closest to Maki’s before Kotori took it?

Shrugging her shoulders, Nico pushed the door open and went inside dropping her bags in the corner. The room was the largest bedroom Nico had ever seen, with lots of furniture and decorations. Nico’s gaze was dragged towards the queen-sized bed, noting all the pillows and soft blankets. Nico slowly lowered herself onto the bed, feeling the mattress sink beneath her.

Nico let out a satisfied sigh. She could already imagine herself settling into the house just fine.

Nico laid in the bed for a few minutes before dragging herself off, determined not to sleep the day away without explore the mansion further. Exiting the room, Nico went down the stairs and walked around. Nico quickly found herself entering the living room, where Maki and Umi were both sitting on the couches.

“Your place is huge Maki! Thanks for letting us stay here,” Nico said sincerely.

“No problem. You let me stay at your house so it’s only fair to return the favour,” Maki said meekly.

“You have a really nice kitchen Maki, I’m sure Nico’s going to love it when she sees it,” Umi commented.

“Is it that good?”

“I think so, you should check it out for yourself though. Her kitchen has all kinds of appliances in it.”

“I can’t wait to use them all. Maybe I should bake a cake as celebration for staying here,” Nico giggled.

“A cake huh? I’m sure Honoka would’ve liked that.”

“Honoka?” Nico and Maki asked.

“Yeah, she’s an old friend of mine, or was really. I got separated from her quite a while ago before meeting Eli.” Umi said reminiscently. “I wish I could see her again.”

“I’m sure you’ll see her again,” Nico reassured.

“Honoka?” Kotori asked from the entranceway.

“Yeah, my old friend. She has orange hair about this long,” Umi said while holding her hand to show Kotori what she meant. “She loves bread and sweets.”

“I see. Do you miss her much?”

“Of course, she was my best friend,” Umi said.

“I’m sure she’ll find her way here, if that will make you happy,” Kotori said with a glint in her eyes.

Nico and Maki both exchanged worried glances with each other. Kotori had the same glint in her eyes as she did before she killed Umi. Nico felt a shudder go down her spine. Was Kotori planning on Killing Honoka and bringing her back for Umi?

“Hey Kotori,” Maki began slowly. “Please tell me you aren’t planning on doing what I think you’re going to do.”

“Hmm?” Kotori said, the glint in her eyes still visible. “Whatever do you mean?”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 5 is is finally up, an entire week late. Sorry about the delay, as much as I'd like to provide a better reason, it's as simple as "life got in the way". Instead of rushing a chapter out to meet an arbitrary deadline I set myself, I decided to deal with other things I needed to do and delay the chapter to make it as good as possible. I hope it was worth the wait, and that everyone is enjoying it so far. Just one more chapter left!

“Truth or dare?”

“Dare.”

“Alright. Will you marry me?” Kotori asked sweetly.

“Of course,” Umi said while smiling.

“Alright, Nico’s turn!” Honoka shouted.

Nico looked at the pile of blood covered arms to the side in disgust. “Remind me again why we have to use our arms instead of a bottle.”

“It’s better this way!” Honoka said excitedly. “Choose your favourite arm and start spinning!”

Nico reached apprehensively towards an arm. Which one was Maki’s again? It was hard to tell since they were all covered in blood.

“I’ll just use this one I think,” Nico said, hoping it was Maki’s arm she grabbed. Nico let out a sigh and spun the arm, praying the game would end soon. _At least this lets me ask Maki some embarrassing questions_ , Nico thought.

“Ooh, it landed on me. I choose dare!” Honoka shouted.

“I dare you to slap Kotori for killing you last week.”

“Eh? But I like her though, she’s so nice!” Honoka complained.

“You said dare, now hurry up and do it,” Nico said.

Honoka apologised quietly before slapping Kotori on the cheek lightly, getting a smirk from Maki.

“Are you two still annoyed at Kotori?” Umi asked.

“She’s killed you and Honoka now. Regardless of how you feel, killing people is still wrong,” Maki stated.

“But I’ve already said it’s fine! Besides, now I get to be with Umi again!” Honoka said before launching herself onto Umi.

Kotori smiled slightly, eyeing Honoka.

“My turn,” Maki said before spinning the arm Nico had grabbed.

“Hey, you have to choose a new arm to spin! That’s part of the bonding!” Honoka yelled.

“Calm down,” Maki shushed, grabbing a random arm from the pile and pushing the other arm out of the way to spin the new one.

“Ah, looks like it’s me,” Kotori remarked.

“Truth or dare?”

“Truth of course.”

“Would you kill, err, get rid of Honoka if she started taking away any more of your time with Umi?”

“Yes,” Kotori said while smiling, as though it was a perfectly reasonable response.

“That’s our Kotori,” Honoka replied cheerfully. “Your jokes are always the best!”

Kotori hummed in response.

“My turn,” Umi said while grabbing another arm.

“Can we just end this already? I’m getting bored of this,” Nico said.

“We should at least go one more round,” Kotori insisted.

“I’m in agreement with Nico, I don’t like missing my arm just so we can fulfill Honoka’s strange idea of bonding,” Maki said.

Umi ignored Nico and Maki’s complaints and spun another arm, which stopped at Nico.

“Nico, truth or dare,” Umi said.

“Ugh, fine. I choose dare,” Nico said.

“I dare you to kiss Maki so you can stop complaining about me and Kotori.”

“Eh?” Nico and Maki said in unison.        

“What kind of a dare is that?” Nico shouted.

“Revenge for you daring me to refuse any affection from Kotori until dinner,” Umi deadpanned.

“That’s because you two were practically glued together!”

“Kiss her Nico!” Honoka interjected.

“I hate you all!” Nico said before turning to Maki and grabbing her cheeks. In one motion, Nico forced Maki’s lips to hers and held her for several seconds, before pushing Maki back. “Happy now?”

“Yup, Kotori’s turn,” Honoka said happily.

Kotori threw the previous arm back onto the pile and picked a new one to spin.

“Let’s see… Maki.”

“Huh?” Maki said dazed.

“The arm’s pointing at you,” Kotori said. “Truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

“Do you love Nico?”

Nico perked up at Kotori’s question.

“Dare!”

Nico deflated a little.

“You can’t change it!” Honoka shouted excitedly. “I want to know too!”

Nico felt her heart beat faster. This was turning into a rollercoaster of emotions.

“Dare! I said dare!” Maki shouted as her cheeks flushed red.

“Too late to change, answer the question!”

“I, uhh…” Maki stuttered.

“Just let her switch to dare,” Nico said, causing heads to turn towards her.

“I would have thought you’d be interested in the answer,” Umi said, “given that you go on about everyone loving you.”

“I know, but she clearly doesn’t want to answer. Besides, we all know the answer already,” Nico said with fake confidence. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to know the answer. Nico just wasn’t sure her heart could handle it. What would she do if Maki didn’t feel the same way?

“Let her change to a dare,” Kotori said. “Nico and Maki want to quit soon anyways, so we may as well hurry so they can leave. We can just keep playing with the three of us after.”

“If you say so,” Umi said. “I dare you to say, ‘I love Nico’.”

Maki glared at Umi. “I love Nico.”

Nico felt her heart flutter. It may have been part of the dare, but hearing those words from Maki still caused butterflies in her stomach.

“Alright, Kotori’s turn!” Honoka shouted.

“Not quite, I’m leaving now,” Nico declared while grabbing an arm from the pile.

“Kotori still has to go though,” Honoka whined.

“Maki’s house, my rules,” Nico declared.

“I don’t think that’s quite how it works, but I’m on Nico’s side. We’re leaving.” Maki said.

Honoka let out a whine.

“Hey, which one is my arm?” Maki asked.

“One of those four, this one is…not my arm,” Nico said confused. “Hey, which one is my arm?”

Everyone looked towards the pile of arms and the arm in Nico’s hand.

“Maybe we should have marked them somehow…” Umi trailed off.

“They wouldn’t have needed marking if Honoka didn’t insist in coating them in blood to make them unidentifiable,” Nico said annoyed. “Let’s just find me and Maki’s arms so you three can continue having your fun while we do something useful.”

* * *

 

“Maki, put the tomatoes back,” Nico said annoyed.

“We need more, I’m not putting them back.”

“You put two boxes of tomatoes into our bags already, we don’t need anymore.”

“We should stock up on as many as possible while we’re at the supermarket,” Maki countered.

“We have a bunch at home already. We don’t even need the ones you’re grabbing now, I’m just letting you take those two boxes out of pity. We need room for other groceries.”

“Just forgo other stuff for tomatoes if necessary.”

“Are you even listening to yourself right now?” Nico asked. “Why did I even bring you to the supermarket anyways?”

“Because I’m not crazy like the other three.”

“While true, you’re not exactly sane yourself.”

“How so?” Maki asked offended.

“You are literally advocating living on nothing but tomatoes. I don’t know about you, but I can’t live on nothing but tomatoes.”

“I never said we’d only have tomatoes.”

“With the amount you want to take, we would have no room for anything else!”

“Says the girl who went straight for the ice-cream,” Maki retorted.

“That is a necessary item!” Nico shouted, attempting to defend herself.

“How is ice-cream necessary?”

“You ate my ice-cream earlier!”

“That was well over a week ago now, you can’t hold that against me still!”

“You were eating some yesterday!” Nico accused.

“W-What? Where do you get that idea from?”

“I woke up early yesterday and found you on the couch eating from my ice-cream bucket again.”

“You weren’t supposed to see that!” Maki screeched.

“Well I did, and that’s why we need to get more ice-cream!”

“I’ll go and grab the items on the list at that side of the store!” Maki yelled before scurrying away from Nico.

Nico chuckled to herself as she watched Maki scurry away. _It’s too easy to embarrass her_.

Nico walked through the aisles, putting vegetables in her bag. Once she reached the tomato section again, she grabbed one of the boxes of tomatoes to put away before stopping herself.

_Maybe I can spoil Maki, just this once_.

Nico let go of the box and grabbed another two to stuff in her bag. She tried to justify it to herself by reasoning that nobody would get any tomatoes except Maki if she didn’t take enough, but Nico knew she just wanted to see Maki’s face light up upon seeing all the tomatoes.

_The things I do for that girl_.

With her bag filled, Nico went to the entrance of the store and waited for Maki. After several minutes passed by, Maki appeared with her face aimed towards the floor.

“What’s wrong, you go back to grab some extra tomatoes and don’t want me to know?” Nico laughed.

“Let’s just go already,” Maki said quietly.

Nico stared at Maki for a bit. “You went back and grabbed more, didn’t you?”

Maki shifted uncomfortably under Nico’s gaze.

“You know what? Because I am such a nice and generous person, I won’t make you put them back. In fact, I even went back myself and grabbed two more boxes.”

“Really?” Maki asked, eyes sparkling.

“That’s right! However, my bag’s pretty heavy from all the extra tomatoes. I’m sure a kiss on the cheek from Maki would make Nico happy to do this again in the future.”

Maki went over to Nico quickly and pecked her on the cheek before withdrawing and hugging her bag to her chest. “Thanks Nico, you’re the best.”

“Sure, no problem,” Nico said, cheeks flushing slightly. “Anyways, let’s get going.”

Nico took the lead and left the store. Within a minute of leaving, Nico stopped and stared at the sight ahead. There was a purple haired girl bent over, seemingly too preoccupied to notice them. Another person was partly blocked by the girl’s back. A small pool of blood was around the girl, still fresh.

“Oh no...”

Nico looked at Maki in confusion. “Do you know her?”

“That’s Nozomi, the zombie I was complaining about before.”

Nico’s face paled at this. If there was one thing she wasn’t planning on doing today, it was running into another crazy zombie and getting groped.

“Let’s just go this way,” Nico said, turning around and slowly walking away.

“Is that you Maki?”

“Nico, run,” Maki whispered.

Nico turned around to face the girl. “Hi. I’m Nico, Maki’s told me all about you. If you’re going to grope anyone, Maki is right here.”

“Nico, how could you?” Maki said, looking betrayed.

“Now now, I’m not going to grope anyone. In fact, I could actually use some help.”

Nico and Maki eyed Nozomi suspiciously.

“I killed this girl not too long ago, and need to bring her somewhere so she can become a zombie without issues. I want to see her wake up and introduce her to the world. I was wondering if you two could help me carry her somewhere.”

“Where exactly?” Nico asked, already suspecting where Nozomi wanted to go.

“Well, I was hoping to bring her to Maki’s house. It’s far too big for one person, and I’m sure she has room.”

“No,” Maki said.

“Please? Just think of this poor girl,” Nozomi said cheerily.

“You killed her, so she’s your problem,” Maki deadpanned.

“Aww, that’s too bad,” Nozomi said while slowly walking towards Maki.

“G-Get back!” Maki shouted while backing away. “I’m not dealing with you again!”

“I suppose if you won’t agree to help me out, then I can just ask your friend here,” Nozomi said before suddenly launching herself at Nico.

“Get off me! Maki, get her off me!” Nico screamed, attempting to fight Nozomi off. “No, stop it! Maki please, just do what she wants!”

“G-Get off her!” Maki yelled while running towards Nico.

In one swift motion, Nozomi let go of Nico and maneuvered behind Maki, hands going underneath her arms and grabbing Maki’s breasts.

Within minutes, Nico and Maki were carrying the blonde girl Nozomi killed, with said girl humming behind them.

“I never want to go through that again,” Maki sulked.

“It’s okay, we can just set Kotori loose on her,” Nico said, equally defeated.

“What’s that?”

“Nothing!” Nico and Maki said, fear evident in their voices.

“So, I’d like a nice room to sleep in when we get to your place. Don’t worry about finding a room for her, she can share mine.”

“Of course!”

“Thanks so much, you’re the best Maki,” Nozomi said while clasping her hands together.

\------

“Eli?”

“Don’t ask, just move out of the way so we can dump her on the bed. Also, Nozomi is staying with us now,” Nico said.

Umi moved out of the way and let the three of them in before closing the door behind them. “Pleasure to meet you Nozomi.”

“Likewise. What’s your name?”

“Umi Sonoda.”

“Cute name, I’ll be sure to remember it,” Nozomi said happily.

“Umi, grab Eli’s body and help Maki carry her up, I need to go do something quickly,” Nico said.

Nico let go of Eli once Umi was holding on and ran off, ignoring the annoyed look from the house’s resident tomato.

With Nico now free from carrying Eli, she started searching the house. Nozomi may be too much for Nico to handle, but she knew a certain psychotic zombie that would send Nozomi running.

“Ah, Kotori!” Nico said cheerfully.

“Hi Nico, do you need something?”

“I just came to let you know that Nozomi’s going to be staying here now. She convinced me and Maki to let her after an awful groping session.”

“I hope Maki’s okay,” Kotori said worriedly. “Did you ask her stop?”

“We did, she wouldn’t listen. Anyways, I just came to warn you about her. On the way here, she was asking about everyone who lives here. She was very interested in Umi, specifically her breasts.” Nico lied.

“Is that so?” Kotori asked.

“Yes it is. She forced us to tell her all kinds of things about Umi. She even told us how much she’s looking forward to groping Umi after dinner.”

“I see,” Kotori said dangerously. “Thanks for letting me know.”

“No problem. Anyways, I have to go up and make sure Maki and Umi are okay. Do you want to come?”

“Lead the way.”

Nico smirked and led Kotori upstairs. With any luck, Kotori would be able to scare Nozomi away from the house. Once upstairs, Nico walked down the hallway and found the room Eli was dumped in.

“How’s she doing?” Nico asked, faking concern.

“Good I hope,” Nozomi said cheerfully. “With this good of a bed, I’m sure she’ll feel just like new when she wakes up.”

“Hi Nozomi,” Kotori said while walking into the room, her voice high pitched and too friendly, something Nico was all too familiar with.

“Oh, hi Kotori. I haven’t seen you in a while. How have you been?”

“Very good actually. In fact, me and Umi will be getting married sometime in the future.”

“Is that so? That’s good to here, she’s a nice-looking girl.”

“I know, I can’t wait. Actually, could everyone leave the room for a bit? I want to tell Nozomi a secret,” Kotori said, her voice sickeningly sweet.

“Sure thing. Let’s go Maki and Umi,” Nico said while grabbing their wrists and dragging them out of the room.

“Hey Nico, why does Kotori seem kind of scary?” Maki asked once safely in the living room downstairs.

“She’s not scary,” Umi interjected.

“She seems that way because I told her Nozomi was planning on groping Umi,” Nico said smugly. “Now we just wait for Nozomi to get scared off.”

“Kotori wouldn’t scare her off, she’s far too kind to do something like that,” Umi defended.

“Hey Maki,” Kotori called while sticking her head into the room. “Is there anything in the fridge in the basement?”

“I don’t think so, why?”

“Perfect! I’m just going to chuck Nozomi’s head in there until she agrees never to touch Umi,” Kotori said before leaving.

“Make that until she agrees never to touch me or Maki either!” Nico called after her.

“Sure thing!”

Nico laughed as she listened to Nozomi’s calls for help fade as her head was carried to the basement. For once, Kotori’s psychotic tendencies proved to be useful.

 

 

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The final chapter, only one week late again. I hope everyone enjoys it!

“Kotori, listen. I’m very thankful for all the help you’ve done around the house. You got Nozomi to stop groping us, you made clothes for everyone, you help cook and clean. You’ve even made everything less lonely for me, and I’m really thankful for that.”

“You’re too kind,” Kotori said sweetly.

“However,” Nico interjected, “I must ask that you stop bringing bodies home.”

“Honoka seemed lonely, so I thought I’d find some friends for her.”

“Honoka isn’t lonely, she couldn’t be happier,” Nico said. “What are you going on…oh.”

Nico sighed and dragged her hand over her face. How could she forget? Everything Kotori did came back to Umi. She gave a quick look at today’s bodies, an orange-haired girl and a brown-haired girl. At this point, it shouldn’t even be surprising that Kotori killed people left and right, but Nico couldn’t help but feel some form of twisted amazement at how high Kotori managed to set her body count.

“Maybe you just weren’t paying attention?” Kotori suggested. “Honoka has been really lonely lately.”

“Kotori, drop the act. We both know you just want Umi to yourself.”

“How does Umi fit into this?”

“Honoka and Umi are good friends. If Honoka gets more friends, she’s going to spend less time with Umi.”

“That would be a shame, Honoka forgetting about Umi like that,” Kotori said, faking sadness.

“Kotori, you’re not fooling anyone. I get that you like Umi, everyone respects that, but that doesn’t mean Umi can’t have other friends,” Nico said sternly.

“Is that so?” Kotori said with an edge in her voice.

Nico shook her head and walked away. There was no reasoning with Kotori, and Nico did not feel like having her head violently ripped off and thrown in the fridge.

“Forget it Kotori. Just make sure these are the last bodies you bring back!” Nico called behind her.

Nico stormed through the hallway, passing by the living room before stopping in front of it and gaping.

“Get a room you two! This is the fifth time this week I’ve asked you this!” Nico yelled.

“Nobody’s forcing you to look!” Nozomi yelled back.

Nico stormed away from the room. After living with everyone for several weeks, she was getting sick of all the flirting, kissing, and all other displays of affection. How was it fair that everyone got to be all affectionate with another person if she couldn’t do the same with Maki?

Nico grumbled to herself as she went to Umi’s room. Maybe she could vent to Umi a bit?

Nico gave three quick knocks on Umi’s door before letting herself in, quickly backpedalling and closing the door.

Of course Kotori made her way up and glued her face to Umi.

“Hey Nico!” Honoka called from behind.

“Oh, hi Honoka. What do you want?” Nico sighed. _Please don’t be a request for more bread_ , she thought.

“We’re out of bread, can you get more please?”

Nico stared at Honoka in shock. They just got more bread a few days ago, there was no way they were out.

“Honoka, just because you ate all your favourite bread doesn’t mean we’re completely out of bread. There’s lots of other bread we have,” Nico laughed, praying Honoka wasn’t about to disappoint her.

“No, I mean we’re out of all bread! I ate it all, we need more!” Honoka shouted, completely oblivious to Nico’s mood.

_Why does Honoka do this to me? Even Maki doesn’t go through tomatoes this fast_ , Nico thought, frustrated.

Nico spotted Maki coming up behind Honoka. If Maki was coming to tell her they were out of tomatoes, Nico was prepared to go on a mad rampage.

To Nico’s relief, Maki did not come to report a lack of tomatoes. Instead, she walked up to Honoka and ripped her head off, letting Honoka’s body fall to the floor.

“Into the fridge with you again,” Maki commented.

“Wait! I don’t want to go into the fridge again! Please, I’m sorry!” Honoka cried out.

Nico giggled sadistically at Honoka’s plight. “Hey Maki, can I throw her in?”

“Sure,” Maki said, tossing Honoka’s head to Nico.

“Nico, don’t do this to me!”

“Too late Honoka, you’re going into the fridge until we get more bread, which you can’t have any of,” Nico smirked.

Several minutes later, Nico was locking the front door behind her, Maki in tow.

“I can’t believe we have to find more bread already,” Maki complained.

“I know, that was supposed to last us way longer than a few days. At least you don’t go through tomatoes that fast.”

“Are you saying I go through tomatoes too quickly?” Maki asked offended.

“Of course not. I’m just saying that if you didn’t eat so many tomatoes, maybe your hair wouldn’t be such a stupid colour.”

Maki growled at Nico, but stayed silent.

Nico laughed smugly. Teasing Maki was too easy.

At least, that’s what Nico thought. Throughout the walk to the supermarket, Maki stayed silent, unresponsive to Nico’s teasing.

_Is she really that mad at me over that joke? Talk about being sensitive_ , Nico thought.

“Okay Maki, I’m going to pick up some bread. You go find whatever else you think we need,” Nico said. Pausing for a second, Nico quickly added, “You can pick up some more tomatoes if that will stop your sulking.”

Maki nodded her head slightly and walked off, leaving Nico alone.

_Well, I can’t do anything but wait I suppose_.

Nico walked to the bread aisle and started sorting through the different loafs. All of Nico’s pillaging of the place and the passage of time was starting to take its toll on the store, with most non-perishable foods being expired. It wasn’t as though they couldn’t eat the expired stuff, they were zombies after all, but it just didn’t seem right to eat food long past its best before date.

_Maybe I’ll just ‘accidentally’ forget Honoka’s favourite bread, or claim the only loaves left are moldy_ , Nico thought, still annoyed at Honoka.

While sorting through the bread, Nico heard footsteps nearby. Assuming them to belong to Maki, Nico ignored them, figuring Maki found what she wanted.

What Nico did not expect was something to smash into the back of her head, making her hair sticky and gross.

Nico turned around in shock, staring down the aisle. The girl at the end was most definitely Maki, meaning that she was responsible for whatever hit Nico. Reaching back, Nico brushed her fingers against her hair and brought her hand to her face, examining the rest paste covering her hand.

“Did…did you throw a tomato at me?” Nico asked in shock.

In response, Maki took a step forward and hurled another tomato at Nico, covering Nico’s face in tomato juice.

“Alright, that does it,” Nico growled, grabbing the closest loaf of bread and throwing it at Maki.

Regardless of how Nico felt about Maki, she was not going to let her get away without suffering Nico’s wrath.

Maki ran to the side, out of view. Quickly following Maki, Nico ran around the aisle and had her face smashed with something, knocking her over.

Nico groaned and pushed herself up. Maki was running away, leaving her weapon laying in front of Nico.

_Did she just smack me with that?_ Nico thought, staring at the deposited mop in front of her.

“Of course you know, this means war!” Nico yelled, running after Maki.

Running around the corner of the aisle, Nico suddenly lost control of her movements, watching in awe as her feet shot up over her head.

_Maki turned this whole place into a warzone designed to kill me, didn’t she?_

Nico shakily got to her feet and scanned the area, looking for any sign of Maki. Failing to find her, Nico crept through the aisle, keeping her eyes peeled for Maki.

A creaking sound from Nico’s right made her freeze. Turning her head slowly, she looked at the shelf in confusion. Nico was sure the shelf was tilted slightly.

Within seconds Nico realised what was going on, but by then it was too late to stop it. She could only watch in horror as the shelf fell over, smashing into Nico and sending stuff everywhere.

“Do you take back the insult about my hair now?” Maki asked smugly from above Nico.

Nico let out a groan in response. “Can you just get me out from under this thing please?”

Maki stuck her tongue out at Nico and started moving stuff off Nico. After a minute, Nico was pulled to her feet.

“I take you needing my help means you’re surrendering?” Maki asked smugly. 

“Yeah, fine. Whatever. Do you have any more tomatoes that you were throwing at me?”

“Just this one. I was going to throw it at you, but since you gave up, I’ll spare you from that mess.”

“Sure, can I eat it?”

“I guess?” Maki said, confused. “It’s rotten though, so it’s not going to taste any good.”

“All the better,” Nico said as she grabbed the tomato and smashed it into Maki’s face, sending Maki to the floor.

“What was that for?” Maki screamed, wiping tomato paste from her eyes.

“Round two!” Nico screamed as she pounced on Maki, knocking the air from Maki’s lungs.

Maki was going to earn Nico’s wrath for what she did, and Nico was going to enjoy every second of it.

 

* * *

 

“I want a bath.”

“So do I.”

“Why did you have to start a second round like that?”

“Says the girl who started round three,” Nico huffed.

“Whatever, just hurry up and unlock the door already. It’s freezing cold with my clothes soaked.”

Nico grumbled under her breath and unlocked the door, pushing Maki back so she could enter first.

“Hey, I’m taking a bath first!” Maki complained.

“I’m taking it first, you can wait.”

“It’s my house, I get it first!”

“I let you into my house after you ate my ice-cream, I get it first!”

“Are you seriously still holding that against me?”

“Welcome back, is…” Umi trailed off, eyeing both of them. “What happened?”

“Maki here,” Nico said, thrusting her finger towards Maki, “decided to throw food at me and physically abuse me.”

“More like Nico decided to insult me and then when I got revenge, thought it was appropriate to smash rotten tomatoes into my face.”

“You started it!”

“You continued it!”

“How about you two get cleaned up?” Umi suggested, attempting to diffuse the situation. “It doesn’t matter whose fault it is, let’s just move on, okay?”

“Fine,” Nico and Maki grumbled, dumping their bags at the door.

Nico dragged herself up the stairs, Maki right behind her. Upon reaching the bathroom, Maki grabbed Nico’s arm and pulled Nico back, forcing her way in front of Nico.

“Hey, I said I’m first!”

“My house, my rules. I’m first,” Maki countered.

“Fine, then I’m just going to roll all over your couches and bed.”

“No!” Maki shouted. “I’m not dealing with the smell if you get it into my bed!”

“Then let me take a bath!”

“Or you two could take one together,” Kotori said from behind them.

“Eh?” Nico and Maki shouted, turning to face Kotori.

“You two are both a mess, and there’s no way to really sit around without getting the place filthy. The bath is big enough for two people anyways.”

“But…” Maki trailed off.

“Let’s put it this way. By the time you two fight it out about who gets to go first, you two would have been able to finish bathing if you just went together.”

“That…actually makes sense,” Nico reluctantly agreed.

“I suppose it wouldn’t hurt,” Maki said embarrassedly.

“Me and Umi bath together all the time, and so do Eli and Nozomi. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” Kotori said sweetly.

“Speak for yourself,” Nico mumbled under her breath.

Kotori gave them one last smile before leaving Nico and Maki alone with their feelings.

“Together it is I guess?” Maki asked.

“Looks like it.”

Nico went into the bathroom and waited for Maki to join her, closing the door once Maki was in. Within minutes they were both naked and soaking in the bath, facing each other.

“Have I told you how much I love your house?” Nico asked contently.

“You tell me that every day.”

“Well, I mean it. Your house is huge and so comfortable. My house didn’t have a bath anywhere near this good.”

“I’m happy that I went into your house and you let me stay,” Maki sighed happily. “If you didn’t let me in, I wouldn’t have so many wonderful friends.”

“I agree,” Nico said. “Although, they could be a bit less flirty and crazy.”

“I can’t believe how sticky your hair is still from the tomato.”

“It wouldn’t be like that if you didn’t start a giant food fight,” Nico laughed. “It was fun though. Yeah, the mess is a pain, but it was enjoyable.”

“At least we got more bread, so we can actually have some. How did Honoka even go through that much anyways?

“I have no idea. Speaking of Honoka, is her head still in the fridge?”

“If nobody else took it out, then yes. Should we let her out after we’re done?” Maki asked.

“Nah, she can stay there until someone notices she’s gone. Serves her right for eating all the bread.”

“That’s cold.”

“Not as cold as her head must be,” Nico laughed, causing Maki to laugh as well.

“Actually, what happened to her body?”

“Who knows?” Nico said as she grabbed the shampoo bottle, dumping more shampoo on her head. “So sticky,” she whined.

“Here, let me help you,” Maki said, shifting closer to Nico and taking the bottle from her.

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

They stayed in a comfortable silence for a few minutes as Maki washed Nico’s hair.

“Hey Maki, did you know Kotori brought two more bodies home earlier today?”

“Not again,” Maki sighed. “She’s really nice, but ever since she met Umi, she hasn’t been the same.”

“She’s so in love with Umi it’s not even funny.”

“I know. At the same time, I’m happy for her,” Maki said.

“I suppose. It must be nice, having someone who cares for you and who will support you no matter how psychotic you get.”

“I could do without walking into everyone kissing though,” Maki laughed.

“I know! We’re the only ones who aren’t in some form of relationship.”

“Besides Honoka,” Maki added.

“Honoka doesn’t count. Besides, she’d probably marry bread if she could.”

“Probably,” Maki agreed. “I think we’re clean now. Should we get out?”

“I’m fine with staying her a bit longer,” Nico said, sinking lower into the water.

“If you say so,” Maki said, pushing Nico to the side to sit beside her.

“What, getting sleepy?” Nico laughed as Maki rested her head on Nico’s shoulder.

“Be quiet, it’s just comfortable like this.”

“If you say so,” Nico laughed, resting her head on Maki’s. Nico grabbed Maki’s hand and squeezed it, smiling contently.

 

* * *

 

“Nozomi, pass the bread please,” Nico said.

“Sure thing.”

“Why can’t I have any bread?”

“Because you go through it too fast. You’re not getting unbanned from bread anytime soon,” Umi stated.

Honoka whimpered quietly. “I just want a slice.”

“It won’t stop at just one slice,” Maki countered.

“Don’t pick on her, you go through tomatoes like crazy,” Rin said.

“Rin, she doesn’t go through that many tomatoes,” Hanayo said quietly.

Honoka quickly reached over and grabbed Umi’s slice of bread, yelping in pain when Kotori jammed a fork into her hand.

“Leave Umi’s food alone Honoka,” Kotori said sickeningly sweet.

“She’s scary,” Rin said under her breath.

Nico shook her head at Honoka’s antics. Their group was up to nine now, yet Maki’s house was still large enough for them all. It amazed Nico how anyone could have afforded such a house, although with humans being replaced by zombies, money was no longer an issue.

“Oh Hanayo, say ‘ah’,” Rin said happily, feeding Hanayo some food.

That was the other noticeable thing that happened. Kotori’s plan to get Honoka new friends so she could keep Umi to herself backfired spectacularly. Instead of becoming quick friends with Honoka and taking her away from Umi, Rin and Hanayo were already dating, and just continued from where they left off before death. This created the funny side effect of making Honoka clingier to Umi, as she was promised more friends by Kotori and did not receive them. Of course, they became good friends with time, but it was funny to watch Kotori get annoyed, especially as Nico wasn’t on the receiving end.

The problem of Hanayo and Rin dating was that Nico had to put up with even more public displays of affection, something that only made her jealous about her lack of relationship with Maki. They were still very good friends, but Nico wanted something more.

“Oh, that’s so cute. Here, Eli, open your mouth too,” Nozomi said, feeding Eli.

Not wanting to be out-done, Kotori turned to Umi.

“Umi, I have something for you,” Kotori said desperately.

“What is it?” Umi asked.

“Just… one… second…” Kotori said as she forced her hand into her chest and started tugging at something. “Here you go!” She said, handing her heart to Umi.

“Alright, that’s enough!” Nico yelled, slamming her hands on the table. “Why is everyone dating someone except me and Maki? I’m getting sick of all the affection and flirting and kissing and everything else everyone is doing! Seriously, just get a room already!”

“I’m not dating anyone,” Honoka said meekly.

“Oh be quiet Honoka, you’re just as bad in other ways,” Nico said.

“I don’t really see why you’re complaining Nico,” Nozomi said.

“You really don’t see why I’m complaining about everyone basically being glued to each other’s faces while I’m here all alone?”

“Aren’t you and Maki dating?” Rin asked.

“What?” Nico asked in confusion. “Where do you even get that idea from?”

“I agree with Nico, what makes you think we’re dating?” Maki sputtered.

“You both hold hands and go out on dates,” Eli pointed out.

“We don’t go on dates!” Nico screamed.

“Then what is it that you two do?” Kotori asked.

“We just go out on walks with each other sometimes, or go to grab some food. Nothing friends wouldn’t normally do!”

“Haven’t you two cuddled together a few times?” Umi asked.

“That doesn’t mean anything!” Nico and Maki shouted.

“You two bath together all the time,” Hanayo said.

“Only because Kotori told us to!”

“I only told you two to take a bath together once, and that was only because I thought you two were girlfriends already.”

“Why does everyone think we’re in love?” Maki complained.

“Because you two switch between acting like newly weds and acting like an old married couple,” Nozomi said.

“Whatever, forget this whole conversation, I just want to eat,” Nico said, stuffing her mouth.

The rest of dinner went by smoothly, with Nico and Maki staying quiet while everyone ate. As soon as everyone finished, Nico left to go to her room, leaving Kotori to clean up for the night.

_Why does everyone think me and Maki are together?_ Nico thought as she collapsed in bed. _Now things are just going to be weird between us. I really wish they didn’t say all that. How do they even get the idea Maki likes me?_

“Hey, Nico?” Maki said from the doorway.

“Oh, Maki, hi,” Nico said, laughing to cover her embarrassment. “How can I help you?”

“Can we talk?” Maki asked as she closed the door behind her.

Nico gulped, dreading the conversation that was about to unfold. “We’re talking right now, aren’t we?”

“Nico, I’m being serious.”

Nico sighed, accepting she couldn’t avoid it any longer. “Yeah, sure.”

“Are we…dating?” Maki asked, embarrassed.

“That would mean we have to be in love, wouldn’t it?”

“I know…” Maki trailed off. “Do you, you know, love me?”

Nico sighed. “Yeah, I do. I didn’t want to say anything earlier because I didn’t want to ruin what we had, but I guess it’s a bit late for that.”

“I see,” Maki said, twirling her hair.

They both stayed silent, shifting around uncomfortably.

“I…” Maki started, opening her mouth and closing it repeatedly before taking a deep breath. “I wouldn’t mind dating you for real!” she said quickly, closing her eyes as her face flushed red.

“You wouldn’t?” Nico asked in shock.

“I love you too! So, will you please be my girlfriend?”

Nico started laughing, relief washing over her. “Of course I will, you dumb tomato.”

Before Maki could retort, Nico grabbed her and mashed their lips together.

“That was…nice,” Maki said as they parted.

“Yeah, it was,” Nico agreed.

Maki looked down embarrassed and mumbled under her breath.

“What was that?”

“I said since we’ve apparently been dating longer than anyone, it would be nice to get married. To make up for us being the last ones to know about us.”

Nico smiled as she felt her eyes tear up. “Sure, I’ll make sure to get some wedding rings and dresses for us. I’m sure Kotori wouldn’t mind waiting to marry Umi so that we can get married first. We can even ask Honoka to make a tomato cake, just for you.”

“You just had to ruin the moment, didn’t you?” Maki laughed.

“Of course, but you love me anyways!”

“Oh be quiet,” Maki said, kissing Nico again.

With the moonlight going through the window and bathing them as they kissed, Nico felt at peace. Nothing else mattered, only her and her beautiful soon to be wife.

**Author's Note:**

> At we're done. After two weeks of banging my head against my keyboard, Feathers solves the issue of how to do the scene in about 10 seconds. Make sure to thank her for it turning out well!
> 
> I'd like to thank Feathers for inspiring me to start writing again, and to Super Idol Nico Yazawa and FringeWeaver for editing and catching all my silly mistakes (and there were many mistakes that nobody is seeing thanks to all the editing). Super Idol Nico Yazawa also made many suggestions and story/plot edits, so thank him for it turning out as good as it did. Also, thank you Icecore for coming up with a much better title than the orginal one. I'd also like to thank the Nico discord server, for providing so much inspiration and encouragement.
> 
> I hope everyone has enjoyed the story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Until next time!


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